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As anyone who knows me can tell you, my track record in keeping plants alive is horrifyingly bad. At least two friends will never entrust me with their key anymore after they once came back from a holiday to a house filled with brown death, and even my own plastic plants look worse than most people's real ones. So when a good friend gave me two plants with Sinterklaas (our sort-of version of Sinterklaas) as well as a new watering can, I was fully convinced they'd die a quick death before New Year, even if my friend insisted that even I should be able to keep what was essentially the floral equivalent of a goldfish alive. And indeed, for the first three months my plants actually florished, and I was beginning to get visions of the greenhouse I would undoubtedly be maintaining in a few years.

That vision died a sudden death as my train rode away from Utrecht two days ago, and I realised I'd forgotten to give the plant any water at all during the, rather hectic, week. Today I rushed back to find the plant in a sorry state, with all the leaves hanging down and the earth as dry as sand. I quickly mounted a rescue operation, and as I write this it's soaking up water in my sink - I just hope that when my friend said this was a plant that didn't need much water she didn't also mean that it absolutely couldn't handle a lot of water.

I do definitely hope it will have recovered tomorrow - if by the time you log on then this 'Hello World!' has been replaced with a standard post about the latest site plans or so, you'll know my rescue operation failed and I rushed out to the garden center to get a new, nearly-identical plant, and wiped out this column in order to not reveal this to her. If I'm forced to do that, hopefully she won't notice I actually replaced her plant with a different one. I'm sure she won't, though - all my plastic plants look alike, so surely that's the case as well with the real ones they're trying to imitate?

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

Below are some of the most important headlines that appeared on TrekToday on the 11th of March, 1999:

DS9 Final Chapter News - Both false and true rumours on the final DS9 episodes surfaced on this day. It was rumoured that the finale would feature a guest appearance of considerable size, which contrary to earlier rumours would not be Spock, and it was said that news of a main character dying should be taken with a grain of salt. As for news that turned out to be true, some more episode titles were revealed, as well as the director of the finale - Allan Kroeker.

Finally, Psi Phi posted the following description of the entire Final Chapter. "[Psi Phi's] source analogizes the final episodes to chapters in a book - some may be grouped together to form sections or acts, but they all go together to tell one story. Most of 'The Final Chapter' episodes, though, were written to stand on their own - don't expect cliff-hanger moments at the end of each episode. The continuing storylines will be treated like B-stories except in the episode(s) that really focus on them."

No Species 8472 For Voyager - Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) said at a convention that Species 8472 would not be seen again, despite rumours a few days earlier that they would. She also revealed that the Doctor and Seven of Nine would be singing 'You are my Sunshine!' in the episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me'.

In the new poll, you're asked which of the following three genre series, all scheduled to launch this Fall, you find the most interesting. Personally I'm looking forward a lot to all three - it should be a great year for science fiction and fantasy on television next year.,

Happy Birthday!

37 years ago, on the 11th of March 1964, Gene Roddenberry sent the very first Star Trek proposal to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. According to the apparently out-of-print Star Trek Compendium, by Allan Asherman, Roddenberry was asked by MGM to come up with a replacement for his 'The Lieutenant' series, and he sent them a 16-page booklet detailing the adventures of Captain Robert T. April, 'Number One' and Josť Ortegas aboard the S.S. Yorktown. In a move that they will probably never cease to reget, MGM turned down the show, leaving Gene free to contact Desilu Studios, where it was turned in the weekly series we all know.

Today's Television Listings

The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing 'And The Children Shall Lead' at 10:00am Eastern Time.

In Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series' 'The Trouble With Tribbles' at 10:00am Eastern Time and TNG's 'Force of Nature' at 11:00am.

In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing three TNG episodes, beginning at 16:00 GMT with 'The High Ground', followed at 17:00 by 'Deja Q' and at 18:00 by 'A Matter Of Perspective'.
Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

Tomorrow's Television Listings

The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series' 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?' at 5:00pm Eastern Time.

In Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series' 'The Gamesters of Triskelion' at 10:00am Eastern Time, TNG's 'Inheritance' at 12:00pm, 'The Gamesters of Triskelion' again at 4:00pm, DS9's 'Tears of the Prophets' at 5:00pm, and Voyager's 'Caretaker, Part Two' at 10:00pm.

In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Sons Of Mogh' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. At 20:00, they will be showing the new Voyager episode 'Repression'.
Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

In the Netherlands, Veronica will be showing DS9's 'Let He Who Is Without Sin' at 17:15 CET, while Net5 will be showing Voyager's 'Ex Post Facto' at 18:35.
Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!